"We chose well," A dark brown tabby tom murmured in the Place of No Stars.
"Yes. I know that I doubted you, and her at first, but I have been proven wrong, Beeclaw."
"She is the one who will rule the clans in the forest, and bring us out of this miserable place." The cats looked down in the pool and watched as a white speckled cat leaned over a blueish grey tom.
"What about her litter-sister, Beeclaw?" Asked a light brown she cat.
"Oh, her? She's probably dead by now. Dawnpaw couldn't have survived this far. You know how helpless she is without her hind legs," reassured Beeclaw.
"Of course," Answered the light brown she cat.
In Starclan, cats were also talking…
"This isn't his time. He's way too young!" rasped a dark brown tom with golden spots.
"I know Duskstar. Watersplash is way too young. The dark forest has been recruiting cats again! Now they've taken Moonspeckle!" a white tom meowed.
"Here he comes. Who's going to get him?" Reedstar asked.
"I will. He is in Thunderclan, and I am the closest from us four." Duskstar mumbled.
"All right," a pretty tortoiseshell she cat with bright green eyes meowed.
A few moments later, he appeared with Watersplash at his side.
"What- What am I doing here? Is this Starclan? Am I- am I dead?" He gasped.
"Yes. Moonspeckle killed you while you were sleeping. I assume she wanted to be deputy, but that will never happen." meowed Duskstar
"Wait- Moonspeckle?" Watersplash asked in disbelief.
"Yes. She can play well. But two can play at that game."
"What do you mean?" Watersplash asked.
"There is a cat who will play a great roll," Leafstar, the green eyed tortoiseshell meowed.
"And who is that? Is he in Thunderclan?"
"Yes. It's a friend of yours." Snowstar, the white tom rasped.
"The cat who will save the forest, is…" Duskstar hesitated. "Rainfall."
"Do you promise to uphold the warrior code and protect and defend this clan even at the cost of your life?" Wolfstripe asked from the top of the high boulder.
"I do," Cinder said solemnly.
"Then by the powers of Starclan, I give you your warrior name. Cinder, from this moment you will be known as Cinderheart. We honor you for your quick mind and skills, and we welcome you as a full warrior of Dawnclan." Wolfstripe jumped down and touched his nose to her head.
"Thank you," she whispered. She knew that he was reluctant to name her a warrior when she was so young and without the proper training, but Dawncloud had convinced him to give her a warrior name. As she turned around, the four kits sitting near the nursery entrance ran over and jumped on her, tackling her.
"Yay! You did it!" Ivykit squealed as she jumped on her back.
"You were so great!" Willowkit joined in.
"Great job!" Cloudkit purred.
Ashkit was pouncing on her tail in joy, purring. When had they grown so fond of me? Ever since they were born, they acted as though she was their second mother.
"That's enough kits," Dawncloud said from the side of the clearing, watching them with her eyes gleaming. As the kits bounded towards her, a loud mewling came from the forest, close to the camp. All four kits turned to look at each other, their ears pricked. Cinderheart, Dawncloud and Wolfstripe looked at each other in bewilderment. Wolfstripe and Cinderheart crept out of camp, while Dawncloud swept her tail around her kits.
As the two cat slunk through the forest, the meowling got louder.
"Hello? Is anyone nearby?" The voice sounded like a young cats, no older than five moons. As Wolfstripe and Cinderheart emerged from behind the brambles, they came in view of a little creamy furred she cat with amber eyes. Her hind leg was bleeding from a deep gash. As the little cat caught sight of them, her eyes widened and she shrank into the spiky bramble behind her and winced.
"Who- Who are you?" She managed to meow between shaking gasps. It looked like she hadn't eaten in days. Such a vulnerable kit would make an easy snack for a hungry fox.
"It's all right. We won't hurt you. My name is Cinderheart. What's yours?" Cinderheart asked.
"How do I know you won't hurt me like that big brown cat? He said he wanted to take care of me, but ll he did was bring me back to this stinking place and treat me like a mouse. It was horrible!" She whispered.
"We won't hurt you. We promise." Wolfstripe stepped closer to the little kit, but the broad shouldered grey tom only made her shrink even deeper into the thorns.
"Hey, back away from those. They'll hurt you." Cinderheart told her. The kit turned a weary look on Cinderheart, but stepped out of the thorns. "Why don't you come with us to our camp?" She asked, lowering her hackles and trying to look as unthreatening as possible.
"Do you promise it's safe?" The little cat asked in a quiet voice.
"Yes. We promise," Cinderheart reassured her. Wolfstripe led her back to camp, while Cinderheart went behind her, giving her a boost when she lost her footing. She glanced back gratefully when she almost fell of a slippery branch.
As they arrived at the camp, Dawncloud glanced wearily out from the safe bramble den.
"What was it…" Her voice trailed off as she saw the little cat. Her eyes softened. "Oh, you poor thing!" She scurried over to lick her, and at first she flinched, but then when Dawncloud started licking her injured leg, her muscles loosened a bit and cuddled in closer with her.
"Come on, let's get you to the nursery and you can tell me how you got that." She flicked her tail to the little cat's gash.
"Oh, and you didn't tell us your name." Cinderheart tried one last time. When the cat hesitated, Dawncloud gave her a nudge.
"You can do it." Finally she mumbled it.
"My name is Dew."
"What a lovely name!" Dawncloud told her. She swept her tail around her and the she followed her to the nursery, and the four kits waiting anxiously at the entrance. As Dew caught sight of them, her eyes brightened a bit, but she didn't have the energy to do any more. Cinderheart looked over at the fresh kill pile. There was one mouse and a shrew.
"We should go hunting." Cinderheart suggested.
"Yes. Now when we have an extra mouth to feed it will be harder," Wolfstripe meowed. "But first, we need to find a place to communicate with Starclan. There must be a special place nearby!" He urged.
"All right. But we still need to hunt. I'll take what's left to the nursery." As Wolfstripe nodded, Cinderheart picked up the mouse and the shrew and headed towards the nursery. When she reached the entrance, she found Dew curled up next to the kits, who were also asleep. Dawncloud was looking at them with loving eyes.
"So now she's your new kit?" Cinderheart joked.
"Hey!" Dawncloud batted Cinderheart's shoulder playfully. Cinderheart picked up the mouse and set it beside Dew, and she placed the shrew beside Dawncloud.
"Thanks. You know, looking after four kits, now five, is harder than it looks." she mumbled over the shrew. For the first time, Cinderheart noticed how her shoulders slumped, and her eyes were weary.
"It sure looks like you could use some help."Cinderheart meowed sympathetically.
"Well, with a clan of two warriors, you can't really spare any." Dawncloud sighed. "You'll have to wait until you know what a real clan feels like.
"I don't need a clan when I have close friends." Cinderheart nuzzled her head. When she turned to go, she turned and saw Dew opening her eyes and sniffing at the mouse. She gave Cinderheart a grateful glance and started eating. When she got to the clearing, Wolfstripe was waiting for her.
"We need to recruit more cats for this clan. But this time, we need to go hunting. We'll go tomorrow, looking for cats. Come on, let's go." As they left camp, Cinderheart thought, I couldn't have a better life.
"Come on sleepy head! Go outside and play with your littermates!" Dawncloud nudged Ivykit outside.
"But I don't want to!" Ivykit protested. She looked outside, where the sun shone brightly. She knew it wasn't cold, but she wanted to stay in the safe curve of her mother's belly, with the warm scent of milk.
"It's such a nice day out!" Ivykit snuggled closer to her mother's belly.
"It's cold out there and I am warm in here!"
"Just look outside! If it's cold, you can come back in."
"but-" Ivykit started, but before she could finish, Dew came in and meowed to her,
"Oh come on! You know it's not cold out! You're just saying that because you want to stay here! You arn't a scardy mouse are you?" There was a teasing glint in her eye, and her mew edged with a chalange.
"I'm not a scaredy mouse! I'll show you!" At once she leaped up and stalked out of the den, Tail and chin high.
Ivykit stepped out of the nursery and bright sun rays hit her pelt. She ran towards her littermates who were playing moss-ball, exept Cloudkit, who was picking at plants at the edge of the came right between Ashkit and Willowkit.
"Here Ivykit, Catch the moss!" Ashkit squeaked
The moss ball was thrown to her. She went to catch it, but her feet slipped and the moss-ball landed on her head.
"Ouch!" She squealed. Ashkit and Willowkit came over and jumped on top of their fallen littermate.
"Oof!" Ivykit exhaled sharply as Ashkit made a massive jump and landed on her head.
"Kits! Get off your litter-sister at once!" Dawncloud came to the rescue.
Ashkit and Willowkit scrampered off her, and Dew came out of the den.
"But there's nothing to do! We've explored every part of camp, and played all the games we can think of!" Willowkit cokmplained.
"I have an idea! Do you want to go explore out of camp?" Dew suggested. The four kits' eyes widened as they lookee at their mother.
"Well… Alright… I guess"
"I thought you didn't want us to go outside, because all of the stories you told us about what happened to you when you went out!" Willowkit pointed out.
"Well, if I'm with you, I think you would be safe enough." The four kits started cheering.
"We're going outside of camp!" Ivykit cheered. As Dawncloud guided her kits out, Ivykit scampered ahead.
"It's so big!" She stared around in amazement at the trees that seemed to reach all the way to Starclan.
She caught sight of a river, just a few tail length away. She crept up to it, and put her front paw on a safe looking rock.
"Wow!" She whispered. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen! She shifted her weight to get a better view, when the rock gave away under her and she slipped and tumbled into the river.
"Help!" She managed to gurgle over the water. But it was too late. She saw her mother jumping in the river, trying to reach her. She tried swimming, and swimming, but it wouldn't help. Her last thought before she close her eyes was, I should have stayed in the den.